from whence was aid to come? He had not spent an idle moment since
he came to his store in the morning, and had so fully passed over the
limits within which his resources lay, that little ground yet remained
to be broken, and the promise of that was small.

While Ellis stood meditating, in much perplexity of mind, what step
next to take, a man entered his store, and, approaching him, read aloud
from a paper which he drew from his pocket, a summons to answer before
an alderman in the case of Carlton, who had brought separate suits on
his due-bills, each being for an amount less than one hundred dollars.

"Very well, I will attend to it," said Ellis in a voice of assumed
calmness, and the officer retired.

Slowly seating himself in a chair that stood by a low writing-desk, the
unhappy man tried to compose his thoughts, in order that he might see
precisely in what position this new move would place him. He could
bring nothing in bar of Carlton's claim unless the plea of its being a
gambling debt were urged; and that would only ruin his credit in the
business community. A hearing of the case was to take place in a week,
when judgment would go against him, and then the quick work of an
execution would render the immediate payment of the five hundred
dollars necessary. All this Ellis revolved in his thoughts, and then
deliberately asked himself the question, if it were not better to give
up at once. For a brief space of time, in the exhausted state produced
by the un-equal struggle in which he was engaged, he felt like
abandoning every thing; but a too-vivid realization of the consequences
that would inevitably follow spurred his mind into a resolution to make
one more vigorous effort to overcome the remaining difficulties of the
day. With this new purpose, came a new suggestion of means, and he was
in the act of leaving his store to call upon a friend not before
thought of, when a carpet dealer, whom he knew very well, came in, and
presented a bill.

"What is this?" asked Mr. Ellis.

"The bill for your parlour carpets," was answered.

"What parlour carpets? You are in an error. We have no new parlour
carpets. The bill is meant for some one else."

"Oh, no," returned the man, smiling. "The carpets were ordered two
weeks ago; and this morning they were put down by the upholsterer."

"Who ordered them?"

"Mrs. Ellis."

"She did!"

"Yes; and directed the bill sent in to you?"

"What is the amount?"

"One hundred